My First 5K

Just this past Saturday I ran my first 5K. It was the Cheyenne Super Days 5K/10K. This is not the first 5K I've participated in, but it is the first one I've ran the whole 3.2 miles. My time was 30:57. I have no idea if that is even close to being a decent time and I don't really care either. It just so happens that I ran it with two of my friends, TJ and Sue. Let me correct that last statement, I ran with Sue only since TJ was so far ahead of us. I have to admit that I am quite proud of myself. I realize its only 3.2 miles, but you've got to start somewhere and it just so happens my somewhere is 3.2. To get ready for this thing I've been running anywhere from just over 3 miles to just over 4 miles every other day all around Cheyenne. So far the training has been going pretty good with the exception of today. Its my day to run and quite frankly its just to dang hot to run!!!! Its 6pm and its still 82 outside!!! Since its so hot I've decided that I'm skipping my run tonight and rescheduling for tomorrow morning when its only 70 something degrees outside. In regards to my complaining about the temperature you might say well where I'm at its 90 degrees at 6pm. My response is that sucks even more! But you have to remember I've kind of become spoiled in the summer months while living out here in the west. We do get warmer temperatures, but we only see 90+ degrees maybe one week in the whole summer. By the time the 9pm rolls around you generally need to have a jacket with you to keep you warm from the wind that never stops. I am no longer used to the hot & humid southern heat. I'd much rather have my less hot, dry heat in Cheyenne. If the temperature wasn't enough reason not to run, I do have another reason. It happens to be my friend Liz's birthday & I'm going out to dinner to celebrate. Happy Birthday Liz!!!

As some background information I thought I'd say a bit about why I started running. The main reason is because Todd is Crazy!! He has the crazy idea of wanting to run a marathon once in his life. Now is as good as time as any since we aren't getting any younger! I've told him that I can't commit to a marathon, but I will commit to a half marathon. All this running that I'm doing now is just pre-training. Our plan for now is to start our real training at the beginning of October, run the half marathon in Memphis in December, and run the Mardi Gras Marathon in February. Depending on how the half goes in Memphis I may or may not continue to run. Ideally I would like to do the Mardi Gras half marathon while Todd is doing the full. Well, see how things go .....

More Wedding Pictures!!

Here's some of more of our wedding pictures. I've downloaded quite a few that I really like. Enjoy!!!

For more pictures you can go to: http://weddings.katiejenkinsphotography.com/#/kathyandtodd-wedding/

If for some reason that doesn't work you can go to Katie Jenkin's website ...

http://weddings.katiejenkinsphotography.com/#/home/

... from there click on clients and look for Kathy and Todd. Click on it and you should be able to figure it out from there.

Denver Weekend

Before every deployment Todd and I go somewhere nice for dinner. This time instead of just doing dinner we did a full weekend down in Denver. It was awesome!! It was so nice to spend some quality time with Todd without having to worry about his work, my work, his school work, or anything else. We started the weekend by stopping in Fort Collins at a place called Runners Roost. Todd wanted to see about getting some new running shoes. Just a couple of stores down was a frozen yogurt place which was absolutely delicious. I had half mango and half new york cheesecake. Yummy!

After that we headed the rest of the way to Denver. As soon as we got there we went straight to the Westword Music Festival. The festival was 15 stages and somewhere around 100 bands. It was pretty fantastic! The first show that we saw was Oh My Stars. There most popular song right now (in my opinion) is "Bloody November". The were definitely entertaining. (*You can click on any of the bands/song titles to get to the bands websites/music.*) After that show was over we decided to walk around to see the other stages. Turns out that with the exception of the main stage the other stages were in bars. I thought that was pretty cool because I've never been to a music festival like this one. We ended up walking into a bar called Bannock Street Garage just in time to hear No Bueno!. They were a little harder than I usually listen to, but I still thought they were pretty good. After hanging out at the garage for awhile we decided to head back to the main stage. We got there just in time to hear Single File. A couple of their more popular songs are "Girlfriends" and "Zombies Ate My Neighbors". Right after Single File was done Tickle Me Pink played. They are a punk/indie band out of Fort Collins, CO. I heard them for the first time at work when I was streaming an Emo station through AOL Radio. I heard two different songs by them "Madeline" and "Typical" and immediately liked them. They were the real reason why we went to the music festival. I've been listening to these guys for the past year or so just waiting for a chance to finally see them. I can honestly say that they didn't let me down. They put on an awesome show!!! One of their last songs to play was "Madeline" - I think they were saving the best for last. I can't say that I've ever seen a band put that much emotion into playing a song. From what I understand the band's original bassist passed on the day that the album Madeline was released. At the show they dedicated this song in honor of him. It was an awesome performance, so much emotion. Anytime I get the chance to see them play again I'll do it in a heartbeat!! The only thing I can complain about is that they didn't play long enough!!! Immediately after Tickle Me Pink was done we raced over to another bar called Chique. There we watched The Northern Way. I had only heard of one song by them, "Crazy". The more I listened to them they reminded me of a cross between Gavin DeGraw and someone else. I haven't figured out who that someone else is yet. Although the lead singer reminded me of Teddy Geiger who sings "These Walls". I think I might take that with a grain of salt considering I thought Teddy Geiger sang "Boston" which is really by Augustana. Clearly I can't my music straight. After The Northern Way we headed back to our car which happened to be by the main stage. We stopped for a minute to check out the band shirts and ended up buying some new music by Tickle Me Pink. Right before we left we ended up seeing all the band members standing around the area so I got the lead singers autograph. I'm hoping it will be worth something someday!

After napping and showering, Todd and I dressed up and headed out to dinner. We went to a place called The Broker. Its in the basement of a bank. All the tables are set up inside what used to be the vault. We sat in this tiny little booth that was barely big enough for the both of us. One of their dinner deals was 2 entrees for $79. This came with a huge bowl of raw shrimp with cocktail sauce, salad or soup, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts. Add a bottle of wine and you get a great dinner. Todd ordered a steak that ended up having the outside burnt which didn't make him very happy. My lobster and cheese ravioli was good though! After dinner we went out for a drink at Earl's (recommended by TJ).

Sunday after waking up and showering, we got all dressed up again for brunch and an off-broadway show. For brunch we went to the Rialto Cafe on 16th St. The food plus the $9.99 bottomless mimosas were great! Brunch didn't take near as long as we though it would, but we decided to head over to the show we had tickets for. The tickets were for Young Frankenstein at the Buell Theatre. While we were waiting the hour for the doors to open we saw a bunch of crazy people running around in red lingerie - men and women. Some were wearing lace while others were wearing short and skimpy. It was actually pretty gross. We aren't really sure what all these people were doing, but we think it might have had something to do with the Pride Festival going on in Denver that weekend. The longer we sat there the more waves of people we saw in red clothing. It was strange.

In an effort to waste more time we walked around a little and took quite a few pictures of each other. Finally the doors to the theatre opened. I thought the show was good. It was alot more crude than I expected it to be, but I thought it was still pretty entertaining. Todd thought the first half was sort of slow, but I think it was because he couldn't see past the big head sitting in front of him. I think we agree on what our favorite part was, when all the main characters get together to sing and tap "Puttin' on the Ritz". I thought the guy who played Dr. Friederick Frankenstein was great! According to what I read, he oringated the role of Dr. Frankenstein on Broadway. He has also been in quite a few movies and was even on Desperate Housewives.

Here's a couple of pictures of us wasting time and taking pictures.

After the show, we headed back towards home. We made one stop along the way to eat some dinner with some of the guys that are on Todd's crew for his deployment. After that on to Cheyoming.

Newlyweds

After all those months of stressing out, its finally over. I can honestly say that looking back on it it really was worth all the stress and planning. Todd and I got married on May 29, 2010. It all happened at the YMCA Of The Rockies down in Estes Park, CO. The events coordinator, Teresa, and her wait staff did an awesome job with the set up and reception service!! We were also lucky enough to have the rain hold out. Overall it turned out great!! From talking to some of our guests it sounds like everyone had a good time. Even if there were some guests that didn't have a good time I think I had an awesome enough time for everyone!!! Even though the wedding was a success there were a couple of hiccups ....

1. It took about 10 minutes to get the hook and eye closure on the top of my dress together. Within seconds of getting it together I turned my torso and it snapped. Luckily I have a handy brother-in-law, Scott, who fixed me right up with some white wire.

2. My flowers were 20 minutes late so I didn't get any pictures with them on top of the mountains.

3. It wasn't until we were about to do the garter toss that I realized I wasn't wearing my garter. Oops!! A big thanks to Tina & Kellie for running up to the cabin to get it for me.

4. When I was sitting down for Todd to retrieve the garter I leaned forward and I heard another pop. Turns out it was the button holding up my bustle. Luckily someone rigged my sash to help make a bustle.

This whole time I was thinking that once I got married I would somehow feel different in some way or another. But, it appears I was wrong, I don't feel any different now than I did before. The only thing that is hard to get used to is my new name. Just last week we had dinner with some people we had just met, Kari & Patrick. At the end of the night Kari asked me what my last name was and I responded "Ryder" and got half way through spelling it when I realized what I had just done. I guess I'll just have to keep working on that!

Newbie

I'm new to the world of blogging. What I've seen of other people's blogs has peaked my interest and has made me what to start one for Todd and I. I'm not really sure how hard this thing is going to be to keep up, but I thought I would give it a try. Especially seeing how I now have quite a bit of free time on my hands and its only going to increase for the next few months. My main purpose for this thing is really more for when Todd and I (keep your fingers crossed) move to Germany. But, until then hopefully it will be somewhat entertaining. I guess only time will tell!

Just to document the awesome occasion of starting this blog I have added a picture of Todd and I! Its one of my favorite pictures from my favorite vacation, Kauai.